Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Elvis, Elvis, Let Me Be, Take That Pelvis Far From Me!

Good morning bloggers!

As you know, this theater exists in the center of Alabama, in the Deep South, and we always give a good party, especially when it centers around something or someone we absolutely adore! This leads into the topic of today's blog, our upcoming show called "A Tribute to Elvis: The Early Years" in which our good friend Scot Bruce returns for a limited time engagement to benefit the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

You don't know who Scot Bruce is? Well, here's a handy dandy link to his website where it explains who he is, where he's from, and why he loves the music of Elvis so much.

Our friendship with Scot Bruce began when we had a show called "Idols of the King," and we needed someone who looked and sounded as close to Elvis as we could find. A bit of research lead us to Scot Bruce and he delivered on the look, the moves, and the voice. Ever since being adopted into the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Family, he's been more than willing to lend a hand, or a dance, when needed.

So, if you love the music of Elvis then you won't want to miss the return of Scot Bruce to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, June 5th, 6th, 7th at 7:30pm and June 7th and 8th at 2:00pm. That's Thursday-Sunday for those of you who don't have a calender handy.

I hope to see everyone there to Shake, Rattle, and Roll in a few weeks!

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cymbeline's Court

Good morning bloggers!

I had the chance to go see "Cymbeline" this past Friday here at the Alabama Shakespeare and it was funnier than I expected from Shakespeare. Usually we're all able to divide up Shakespeare into three different groups: the histories (Shakespeare did of a bit of daydreaming during history in school), the comedies (where strange people work and even stranger events happen), and the tragedies (usually you know it's a tragedy by the body count). "Cymbeline", though, breaks this mold for an amazing theater experience.

King Cymbeline, who the play is named for, is a Celtic king in Britain during an uneasy alliance with Rome and is dealing with a few problems at court, namely his daughter marrying a lowly born but honorable and loving man. This one act of defiance sets into motion the events that brings war to King Cymbeline's court which, interestingly enough, also reunites a family separated by time and distance.

Even after seeing the show I couldn't really label it a comedy or tragedy. Every time it started leaning toward a tragedy then the characters would have a comic moment. When it started getting too funny then a character would give a line that would sober the audience and remind us of the pain experienced by trespassed love.

I was a bit worried going into the performance because I had heard that it was a bit difficult to follow and I hadn't yet read the play (don't tell!). But the plot twists and turns weren't difficult to navigate with our amazing cast leading the way and the audience was able to follow each plot reveal.

Above all "Cymbeline" was what I'd call a good story; told by one of the greatest storytellers in the world. To give some further information, here's Shanley with a back-stage look at how when one of the characters, ahem, "looses his head" over a girl, the props department makes it happen with little to no harm done to the actor.

Enjoy!

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Friday, May 16, 2008

ASF in Theatre Mania

Theater Mania, one of the leading websites for up-to-date information on theater across the United States, recently ran an article on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's new season and what it means for theater in the South. Check it out at http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/13941.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Interviews with the Authors of SWP and more

This week we at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival have been furiously work-shopping the new plays and getting them ready for their staged readings this weekend. For those of you not in the know, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival has a festival of new plays called the Southern Writers' Project where we commission new plays for the American Theatre cannon. The only criteria are that the plays be about Southern stories, by Southern writers, or about an African-American story. I recently managed to grab all the authors and interview them for our information station (which has the completed interviews, voice overs with background information on each play, and all the events for the weekend) and decided to post one question from each author on the blog. They're a bit much to embed into the blog, so I'm putting all the links to our site over at youtube.com. Click here and check out how each of the very different stories brought to SWP this year were inspired. Tickets to all of the staged readings are still on sale and only $10 per reading. I hope to see everyone there this weekend!

Mike Vigilant, author of "Bear county" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl6KudQVAbw

Pat Cunningham Devoto, author of "My Last Days as Roy Rogers" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDGlz0JCRxE

Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, author of "Furniture of Home" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYWBvRkUr8k

Jeffrey L. Chastang, author of "Preparations" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYNIkJI-hJc

Richard Aellen, author of "Nobody" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf_i_H70ebA

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Friday, May 2, 2008

Is that a 20 foot rocket in your lobby or are you just happy we subscribed

How did a 20 foot tall rocket ever get into the Octagon Theatre? Well, it was no doubt an interesting process for A.S.F.’s production department. This year’s Southern Writers’ Project winner is the play “Rocket City”; and with a title like that, you have got to have a rocket or two. Le Hook’s scene shop actually built 2 large scale rockets, one for the stage and one as a lobby display.

As Purchasing Agent for most of the Production Department at A.S.F., I get to buy nearly everything you see on stage (actors, costumes and lighting sold separately). Rocket City, as with many shows produced, utilizes a lot of different materials like lumber, glue, fasteners and paint. But this article is about the common things we make. Quite often I purchase some not-so-obvious materials for the shops. Occasionally, I’ll have to ask “what are you going to do with that?”

One of the things I thought was cool about this show is that the scene shop used approximately 6,000 “rivets” for the two rockets. The rivets are actually ½” French Natural tacks bought locally from a favorite upholstery supplier; The Colonial Shoppe. Perhaps the carpenters hammering in those tacks did not think that “6,000” was so cool.

And while the lobby rocket was mostly made of one by and 1/8” plywood the onstage rocket utilized a different construction technique. Quite often when a design calls for columns as a scenic element then Sono Tube is used. Sono Tube is basically a heavy duty cardboard form used in “real world” construction for pouring concrete. When we use Sono Tube onstage, we of course don’t use concrete. The cardboard is first covered in muslin and then base painted; then, depending on what these columns are supposed to be, it is up to Dusty Stutsman Terrell and her painters to fool the audience’s eyes with their masterful painting skills.

With Rocket City, Le sought out the largest Sono Tube in production; a 12’ tube with a diameter of a whopping 60”! After trekking up from Mobile through some heavy and damaging rains this monster was cut in half and reconstructed to fit just inside the Octagon space. While the appearance suggests the full round of the lower part of the rocket, it is indeed only half.

Flanking the rocket are two very large mirrors. For reasons of cost, weight, and safety real glass mirrors are out of the question. We used a material made for the stage called Heat Shrink Mirror. It comes on a roll and looks a lot like Mylar. Once stretched over a frame, workers apply heat to shrink the material taut. After Dusty and her painters spent hours using hand held heat guns and only achieving minimal coverage, she was ready to step things up a notch. The solution was to rent a torpedo space heater. This still took a lot of time and patience but covered the large areas much more quickly. These large mirrors next to the half rocket form the appearance of a whole rocket. It’s “Very Cool” if you ask me. Oh yeah, add some fog underneath it and it becomes “Way Cool.”

Whether it’s King Kong or a rocket destined for outer space, nothing shows it off more than a good reveal! This, for Rocket City, is accomplished by two very tall retractable walls. Kind of neat, but what I find interesting is that the casters used at the bottoms of these walls are Kryptonics Rampage wheels. What are those? They are wheels for in-line skating. They provide a streamline profile with quiet action.

Sometimes the everyday items can present some of the bigger challenges. The Props department wanted me to order a porch glider for Rocket City. Not a problem with Spring being here, right? Wrong. The reason why I needed to order one to begin with was that the local stores were either late getting their gliders in or they where far too large for our needs. Prop Master Charles Kilian found a perfect little glider online, but as it turned out it was on back order. We wouldn’t get it until two weeks into the run. No good. So, Charles whipped one out in no time. Then after debuting in rehearsal the glider needed to be shortened and that was taken care of promptly. And after the shipment of glider hardware came in (that was my part) the porch piece “glided” quite smoothly. Ah, but there is one more catch. Director, David Ellenstien wanted the glider to have a squeak when it rocked, and then after “oiling”, not squeak. Well, after countless tries, Charles and his team came up with a solution. Although nails on a chalkboard were considered; metal on metal worked best. After “oiling”, the actor flips a leaver to deactivate the device.

After working in the Prop Shop for several years myself, I remember all too well how something simple can turn into a real challenge. And all the while I’m thinking if only the audience knew how much went into something so “simple”.

Having seen how so many shows are built, propped, rigged and painted, I still can be amazed by the magic of it all. For Rocket City, it was really something quite basic for me that did it. One day down in the scene shop I see a big tube with thousands of ½” tacks stuck in the side of it, and the next day after the painters have hit it I see a rocket! A 20 foot tall, great, big rocket sitting in the production house.

And when you go see Rocket City be sure to check out those rocket fins. Rick Rogers did an awesome job on those babies. There are a lot of highly talented artists working here at A.S.F. For a full list of credits please read your show program.

And for anyone still asking; yeah, I like my job.

Doug Aycock

ASF Purchasing Agent


Thank you, Doug, for your article. And if you want to write for the blog as well, just leave a note in the comments section with your name and email and we'll get you set up to contribute.

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

We have the pics from the first ever College Night! So if you weren't able to make it then this is what you missed!



Group Photo!
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Hanging out after dinner
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Clint Darby rocks!

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Dancing until Midnight
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We had a blast. I hope everyone is able to make it to the next College Night her at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

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Rocket City opened a few weeks ago here at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and I managed to catch director David Ellenstein for a few moments during all the activity involved in a world premiere.

In this interview we talked about the Southern Writers Project, set this year for the weekend of May 16th-18th, where new plays are selected and work-shopped for a week. The creative team includes the playwright, a director, a dramaturg, and a full cast to work on the new scripts and move them forward.

Many of these plays receive their world premiere right here at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and then go on to be picked up at regional theatres around the country. So sit back and let's hear how David first came across the script for Rocket City and what it was like watching this play go from the page to the stage.

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